Jon Bon Jovi's charity restaurant opens in NJ

RED BANK, N.J. (AP) — In three decades as one of the world's biggest rock stars, Jon Bon Jovi has eaten in some of the world's best restaurants, savoring the best food the planet has to offer. Yet there's no place he'd rather have dinner than The Soul Kitchen, a "pay-what-you-can" restaurant he and his wife Dorothea established in a former auto body shop near the Red Bank train station in central New Jersey.

The restaurant provides gourmet-quality meals to the hungry while enabling them to volunteer on community projects in return without the stigma of visiting a soup kitchen. Paying customers are encouraged to leave whatever they want in the envelopes on each table, where the menus never list a price.

The restaurant is the latest undertaking by the New Jersey rocker's Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, which has built 260 homes for low-income residents in recent years.  "When I learned that one in six people in this country goes to bed hungry, I thought this was the next phase of the Foundation's work," he said.

The restaurant now rivals any of its competitors in trendy Red Bank, with entrees like cornmeal crusted catfish with red beans and rice, grilled chicken breast with homemade basil mayo and rice pilaf, and grilled salmon with soul seasonings, sweet potato mash and sauteed greens, many of which were grown in the herb and vegetable garden right outside the restaurant's doors.

"This is not a soup kitchen," he emphasizes. "You can come here with the dignity of linens and silver, and you're served a healthy, nutritious meal. This is not burgers and fries.

"There's no prices on our menu, so if you want to come and you want to make a difference, leave a $20 in the envelope on the table. If you can't afford to eat, you can bus tables, you can wait tables, you can work in the kitchen as a dishwasher or sous chef," he said. "If you say to me, 'I'm not a people person,' I say, 'That's not a problem. We'll take you back to Lunch Break to volunteer with those people. If you don't want to volunteer with that, we'll take you to the FoodBank."

After volunteering at one of those places, a person will be given a certificate good for a meal at The Soul Kitchen.

"If you come in and say, 'I'm hungry,' we'll feed you," Bon Jovi said. "But we're going to need you to do something. It's very important to what we're trying to achieve."

That includes making people feel part of a larger community that cares about them, while still expecting them to contribute to society at large.

"This is not an entitlement thing," Bon Jovi said. "This is about empowering people because you have to earn that gift certificate."

 Click here to read the full article

Useful Dog Tricks by Jesse

dog

Thought For The Day

Found the following quotation posted on the facebook wall:

  

"Pray unceasingly. We must empty Purgatory." ~ St. Padre Pio 

 In response, a poster commented:

 Grateful for Purgatory.

 

 Another quotation was posted on the same wall a few minutes later:

" The chief plenary indulgence, which is within reach of everybody, and can be gained without the ordinary conditions, is that of charity--which ‘covers a multitude of sins.’ ”

~ St. Therese of Lisieux ~

 To which the same poster replied:

Grateful for Purgatory but aiming for Heaven!

 

Hiatus

There's some pressing matter that I have to attend to, so I won't be able to update my blog for a little while.   I would like to thank you for visiting and hope you enjoy browsing through the pages.  

Thought For The Day: Worries

"Every evening I turn over my worries to God. He's going to be up all night anyway."

- Mary C. Rowley

Thought For The Day: Miracles

“If your situation requires a miracle from heaven, you should ask for one. Miracles are not impossible when you keep company with saints. Saints, indeed, are all about obtaining miracles from God. God gives us these things, these miracles, because we suffered with Him while we were on earth.”

—	St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Thought For The Day: Freedom To Choose

“Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way, to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement.”  - Viktor Frankl

Neptune Visible on July 12

Excerpt from GMANEWS:
 
When it completes its first orbit around the Sun since its discovery nearly 165 years ago, Neptune will be visible to stargazers in the Philippines this Tuesday. Stargazers will need binoculars or a telescope to see Neptune at about 1 a.m. of July 12.

“At 1:00 a.m. (of July 12), Neptune and Uranus will be glowing at magnitude +7.8 and +5.8. They will be located 53 and 31 degrees above the east-southeast horizon, and will lie among the stars of the constellation Aquarius, the Water Bearer and Pisces, the Fish, respectively,".

At 2:00 a.m., Jupiter will be easily located at the eastern horizon, shining brilliantly at magnitude -2.3 and will be found among the background stars of the constellation Aries, the Ram. Also, Jupiter’s four bright moons can be seen as they constantly change their positions as they circle the planet at different rates.

Meanwhile, Venus will appear low in the east northeastern horizon before sunrise in the early part of July.  It will then disappear from the sky view on the second week of the month until late September.

Mars will be observable throughout the month on the east northeastern horizon before sunrise. It will be glowing at magnitude +1.6 and will be located among the background stars of the constellation Taurus, the Bull.

In the evening sky, Saturn and Mercury will be observable in the western horizon before sunset throughout the month.They will be shining at magnitude +0.9 and +0.3 and will lie among the background stars of the constellation Virgo, the Virgin and Cancer, the Crab, respectively.

Neptune picture above courtesy of  NASA/JPL-Caltech. 

All About Faith

Excerpt from Society of St. Paul (365 Days with the Lord):

YOUR FAITH HAS SAVED YOU.

What does this mean? That Jesus has no hand in the miracle cures? That the sick people’s faith alone is enough to make them well?
 
Faith is believing in God; it is also believing in a God who believes in us. Believing that God believes in us can make miracles happen to us!

Two frogs fell into a well. Because of its depth they could not get out. Soon the other frogs heard them trying desperately to jump out. Upon seeing the two, these frogs started booing and teasing them to accept their sorry fate. One of the frogs in the well stopped trying. But the other frog kept on, despite the ridicule of the others. Inhaling a lot of air and gathering all his strength, he made one big leap and got out of the well—to the amazement of all.  The successful frog happened to be deaf and could not hear their booing; he thought they were cheering him.

Click here to read the entire article.

Inflatable Shark Among 300 New Species Discovered in Philippines

From Livescience:

A treasure trove of hundreds of new species may have been discovered in the Philippines, including a bizarre sea star that feeds exclusively on sunken driftwood and a deep-sea, shrimp-eating shark that swells up to scare off other predators.

Scientists braved leeches and a host of venomous creatures from the mountains to the sea to uncover more than 300 species that are likely new to science. These findings include dozens of new insects and spiders, more than 50 colorful new sea slugs and a number of deep-sea armored corals "which protect themselves against predatory nibbles from fish by growing large, spiky plates," said researcher Terrence Gosliner, dean of science and research collections at the California Academy of Sciences and leader of the 2011 Philippine Biodiversity Expedition.

Their novel discoveries include a cicada that makes a distinctive "laughing" call, a crab whose pincers are lined with needlelike teeth, and a wormlike pipefish that hides among colonies of soft coral. In addition, they discovered a possible new species of swell shark — a shark that pumps water into its stomach to puff up — which unlike its relatives possesses a very distinctive camouflaged color pattern.

A number of species live in places rarely, if ever, visited by people, such as a primitive plant called a spikemoss from the perilously steep upper slopes of Mount Isarog and a snake eel from the bottom of the ocean. Many others have avoided detection in the past because of their diminutive size, such as goblin spiders and barnacles that all measure just a few millimeters long.

"One of the likely new urchins is very small — it's called a pea urchin, and yes, it's about the size of a pea," Gosliner said.

All these new findings help support the idea that the Philippines "is one of the hottest of the hotspots for diverse and threatened life on Earth," Gosliner said. "We found new species during nearly every dive and hike as we surveyed the country's reefs, rainforests and the ocean floor."

In fact, the researchers suggest the waters of the Philippines may house more species than any other marine environment on Earth. The deep-water channel they sampled is nutrient-rich, allowing life to flourish, and has existed for about 60 million years, giving species a great deal of time to evolve. "All of those factors together have led to the high diversity".

The researchers are sharing their results with Filipino agencies and international groups to develop strategies to best protect the island nation's extraordinarily rich life. This includes outlining the most important places for establishing or expanding marine protected areas, suggested locations for reforestation and reduction of plastic waste.

Click here to see pictures of colorful creatures found. 

Asteroid Buzzes Earth in Close Shave

Excerpt from Space.com:

An asteroid the size of a tour bus zipped by Earth today (June 27) in a  flyby so close that the space rock was nearer to the planet than some  satellites.

The space rock, called asteroid 2011 MD,  reached its closest point to Earth just after 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT),  when it crept within 7,500 miles (12,000 km) of Earth before whipping  away again like a slingshot. The asteroid was flying over the southern  Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Antarctica, at the time of its closest  approach.

The space rock is on the small side, with latest size estimates ranging from 16 to 66 feet (5 to 20 meters) wide. That means asteroid 2011 MD would likely be too small to survive the  fiery plunge through Earth's atmosphere, let alone reach the surface.

Asteroid 2011 MD is the second space rock to zip extremely close by Earth this year. The other object, called asteroid 2011 CQ1, passed within 3,400 miles (5,471 kilometers) of Earth on Feb. 4, making it the closest known flyby of an asteroid to date.

Catholic Church to change Mass liturgy in 2012

From CBCP:

MANILA ― Changes in the English translation of the Order of the Mass are soon to hit parishes across the country when the full implementation of the new liturgical text is adapted next year.

The adoption of the new English translation of the Roman Missal has been approved by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) during its plenary assembly in January this year.

Some parts of familiar responses and prayers have been amended to reflect the true meaning in the original Latin text, the language of the Roman liturgy.

In the Introductory Rites, for instance, the response of the faithful “And also with you” to the priest’s greeting “The Lord be with you” has been replaced with “And with your spirit.”

Similar changes have also been introduced in other parts of the Mass, such as the Liturgy of the Word, Liturgy of the Eucharist and the Concluding Rites.

Also in the Eucharistic prayer, the text “…cup of my blood” has been changed to “…chalice of my blood.” Likewise, the text “it will be shed for you and for all men” has been changed to “which will be poured out for you and for many.”

English-speaking countries including the Philippines are currently using the 1973 English translation of the Roman Missal prepared by the International Commission on English Liturgy (ICEL) which followed a sense translation.
 
The new translation will be introduced throughout the Philippines on the first Sunday of Advent in December 2, 2012. The season of Advent is the beginning of a new liturgical season in the Church calendar.

Click here to read the entire article. 

Coca-Cola & WWF - Innovative Plant Billboard

Finally, a local ad from Coca-Cola that matters and worth the notice.  

Manila, Philippines - Coca-Cola Philippines and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines) unveiled the very first plant billboard in the country.  The billboard now crowns the Adriano Building, between Buendia and Kalayaan Avenues in Makati City.

The 60 x 60 ft. plant billboard utilizes a thriving species of Fukien tea plant, which absorbs air pollutants. Each plant can absorb up to 13 pounds of carbon dioxide in a year, on the average. “This billboard helps alleviate air pollution within its proximate areas as it can absorb a total of 46,800 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, on estimate.”

Recyclable materials were used for the overall make-up of the billboard. 3,600 pots were used, recycling old bottles of various Coca-Cola products. These bottles were filled with a potting mixture made up of a combination of industrial by-products and organic fertilizers—a formulation that is stable and light-weight . These bottles were also designed to hold the plants securely and to allow the plants to grow sideways. Additional holes were made for proper drainage and for holding the drip lines in place.

A drip irrigation system, also known as trickle irrigation or micro-irrigation, was especially installed for efficient water distribution. This irrigation method saves water and fertilizer by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, through a network of valves, pipes, tubing and emitters. The system is operated on a schedule to distribute water with nutrients to the plants. It provides the plants with what they need when they need it.

Ricky Lamanilao - Honest cabbie

In Jesus’ teaching about money and dependence on God, He is speaking of abandonment, trust in God, and surrender to God.  It is the attitude of Job who, after losing everything, exclaims: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!"  

It is to expect nothing, to be grateful for what is there, to live according to one’s means, to desire less, and to need only the basic.  It is to be free.

365 days with the Lord 2011

 

From abs-cbnnews:

MANILA, Philippines - A taxi driver has returned around P200,000 to a British tourist who forgot his bag inside the cab.

Ricky Lamanilao, who has been driving a taxi in Metro Manila for 25 years, returned the cash, which was in British pounds and Philippine pesos, as well as the passport, credit cards, and other documents of Paul Ross.

The tourist said he rode in Lamanilao's taxi from a mall and asked to be brought to his hotel in Makati. He realized that he left behind his bag containing his valuables after he alighted from the taxi.

Lamanilao said he already had another passenger when he realized that his previous passenger forgot his bag inside the taxi. He then returned to the hotel where Ross got off to return the bag. Ross breathed a sigh of relief after he got his valuables back. "I will go back to the Philippines because of Ricky," he said.

Lamanilao said it was the third time that he has returned valuables left behind by passengers. He said he returned them despite being sometimes hard-up on cash. "Napuputulan nga kami ng kuryente. Minsan 3 buwan di nakakabayad...naniniwala ako sa karma,"  he added.

As a reward, Ross took him as his personal taxi driver while the British tourist is in the Philippines. The hotel where Ross stays will also give Lamanilao a commission everytime he brings in a guest.

Canine Boot Camp

Cancer Sniffing Dogs

From Huffingtonpost:

Scientists have put the incredible smelling powers of a dog to good medical use.

Sniffing out cancer.

Japanese scientists trained a black Labrador Retriever, named Marine, that they say can sniff out colorectal cancer with up to 98 percent accuracy, according to CTV News. Better yet perhaps, her abilities are more accurate than some tests currently used to diagnose the cancer, namely the fecal occult blood test, which accurately predicts the cancer only 10 percent of the time.

This isn't the first time dogs have been used to diagnose malignancies like this either. The idea has also been used to test for skin, bladder, lung, breast and ovarian cancers as well, according to ABC News.

So how were they able to hone Marine's predicting abilities?

Previous studies have shown that dogs have the ability to sniff out cancer in patients' breath, according to National Geographic. Using this idea, the female Lab was trained to sit in front of samples that contained signs of cancer.

From CTV:

Marine was taught to sniff cups of exhaled breath samples and then to sit down in front of the cup that contained the sample from the patient with cancer. When Marine got it right, she was rewarded with a tennis ball.

A dog's sense of smell is up to 1 million times better than a human being's. However, not all dogs have the same abilities.


From Bloomberg Businessweek:

A dog trained to sniff out colorectal cancer was almost as accurate as a colonoscopy in a study that suggests less invasive tests for the disease may be developed.

The Labrador retriever was at least 95 percent as accurate as colonoscopy when smelling breath samples, and 98 percent correct with stool samples, according to the study, published today in the medical journal Gut. The dog’s sense of smell was especially effective in early-stage cancer, and could discern polyps from malignancies, which colonoscopy can’t.

“Most striking is the ability of the dogs to detect bowel cancer at its earliest stages,” Trevor Lockett, a bowel cancer researcher with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia.

Most current non-invasive tests for bowel cancer identify later-stage disease far more efficiently than early-stage, Lockett said.

“Detection of early-stage cancers is the real holy grail in bowel cancer diagnosis because surgery can cure up to 90 percent of patients who present with early-stage disease,” he said.

Sniffing Samples

In the study, the dog sniffed samples from 48 people with confirmed bowel cancer and 258 volunteers who were either healthy or had survived cancer. The dog was asked by his handler to find the one malignant sample in a set of five.

“This study shows that a specific cancer smell does indeed exist,” the researchers said in the study. “These odor materials may become effective tools in screening.”

While dogs have previously been shown to identify skin, bladder, lung, breast and ovarian malignancies, canines are too expensive and too fickle to rely on for routine cancer diagnoses, the researchers said.

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The $500 Million Golf Course Seafloor Walkway

Dutch Docklands, a player in the world of floating technologies, or making land where there was no land, has announced its plans to build a golf course on the ocean in the Maldives. There are lots of golf courses that claim to be “on” the ocean, but this one would quite literally be “on” the ocean.  It is scheduled to open in 2015.

The concept is a series of manmade islands with one or more holes on each, linked by transparent undersea tunnels through which golfers walk or ride, sort of a golf course meets Moonbase Alpha ambition.

Click here to read the rest of the article.  Picture courtesy of Forbes. Click here for the complete slideshow.


My initial thought is, will this place, its structures and designs, be safe enough in these times of frequent and increasingly intense earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions? 

Happy Father's Day - U-Zoo

TWO THUMBS UP - Pushcart Classroom

Excerpt from Wikipilipinas

Efren "Kuya Ef" Geronimo Peñaflorida Jr. is an educator and social worker in the Philippines. He has been named "CNN Hero of the Year" in 2009 for his outstanding advocacy to educate Filipino out-of-school youth through "pushcart classes." He founded the Dynamic Teen Company (DTC) at the age of 16 years old. He now works in a local private school during the week and continues his work with the DTC every Saturday. 

Dynamic Team Company started as a friendship club of around 20 members, with an aim of providing youth awareness projects, talent and self-development activities, and community services. They partnered with Club 8586, another community service organization operating in the area.

They eventually pioneered the idea of the "pushcart classroom", wherein pushcarts were stocked with school materials such as books, pens, tables, and chairs, and then used on Saturdays to recreate school settings in unconventional locations such as the cemetery or trash dump. 

Today, DTC's "pushcart classroom" also teaches basic reading and writing to street children.

Update #1: Pushcart classroom (Kariton Klasrum) to go nationwide. Click here to read more.

Update #2: KarBuil (Kariton Building) learning center opens where the daily tutorial for at least 150 children and mentoring program for their volunteers take place. Click here to read more.

The Swimming Song - A Canine Music Video